


Did It Break Us? - Part 5

by LoveYourArtFriend



Series: Did It Break Us? [5]
Category: American (US) Actor RPF, Captain America - All Media Types, Chris Evans - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Romance, Steve Rogers Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22180555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveYourArtFriend/pseuds/LoveYourArtFriend
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Did It Break Us? [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1421746
Kudos: 4





	Did It Break Us? - Part 5

Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight car.

“Soldier?”

“Ready to comply.”

~~~~~~

The lights blew inside the UN bunker and all the cameras you were monitoring went dark, except one. The prison pod was still powered and you watched closely as the Doctor removed his glasses, lit a flashlight and walked toward Bucky, reading from a red book with a black star on the cover. 

“Longing.”

Bucky shut his eyes, “No.” He snapped his head back.

“Rusted.”

“Stop.”

“Seventeen.”

Bucky's metal arm trembled in its restraint. “Stop,” he sneered angrily. 

You listened and observed Bucky very carefully and came to the realization that the soldier knew exactly what was happening to him. You weren’t sure yet but you definitely knew his pleas broke your heart. Your eyes remained glued to his figure as you watched him become more and more agitated.

“Daybreak.”

Bucky screamed, clenched his fist and ripped free of his restraints. “Oh shit,” you exclaimed as you brought your hand over your mouth. 

“Nine.”

Bucky punched the window of the pod.

“Benign.”

Bucky punched harder.

“Homecoming. One. Freight car.”

Bucky battered the front of the pod with his metal fist and the glass screen flew clear. He jumped out and after he stood, at the angle of the camera, all you could see was his backside.

“Soldier?”

“Ready to comply.”

“Mission report. December 16, 1991.”

Bucky’s response was inaudible and then it sounded like a scuffle. The Doctor fell to the ground and Bucky could not be seen.

“Verbal trigger, active hypnosis equals Winter Soldier,” you gasped as you stood abruptly from your chair. “Brainwashed.”

“Help me! Help!” the Doctor exclaimed and you watched the screen as two arms lifted the man in the air and slammed him against the wall.

You could vaguely make out the silhouette, “Steve!” you gasped..

“Who are you? What do you want?” Steve demanded.

The Doctor didn’t hesitate to answer, “To see an empire fall.”

Loud bangs could be heard and Steve let the Doctor go. Sam crashed into the pod and lay motionless in the corner of your screen. Steve ran out of sight and all you could hear were slaps and thuds. After mere seconds, everything was silent. The Doctor took his cue and left.

“Hey,” you heard from Sam as he started to rise up from the floor. He took off, leaving you to only guess what was going on in that building.

“Exterior cameras,” you mumbled as you feverishly bypassed the building’s external wiring. Over half the building was powerless and you could only access two cameras, one of which caught the Doctor exiting the building.

“FRIDAY, Monitor all traffic cameras and keep him on your radar.” You picked your data pad up from the table, “Ready Quinjet 2 and transfer all data to the jet and my personal screen. I’ll be ready to go in five.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

~~~~~~

Secretary Ross gave the order to evacuate all civilians, set a perimeter around the building and send gunships into the air.

Outside, staff were fleeing the building. Sam was among them and spotted something on the ground. “Damn it,” he scowled as he picked it up and looked around the wide courtyard.

The team tried to take down Barnes in the lobby but he managed to fight them off and make his way to the roof to the awaiting helicopter. Steve had followed Bucky outside and sprinted toward the rising chopper. He grabbed the landing gear and tried to pull it back down but the chopper pulled him away from the helipad and onto the mesh that framed the edge of the building. Steve grabbed the railing with one hand and clung to the landing gear with the other. Bucky glowered from inside the chopper then threw the joystick to the left. The chopper's nose slammed into the edge of the helipad and the rotor blades smashed to pieces. Steve dove out of the way as the tail swung toward him. The chopper lay twisted on the edge of the pad as Steve slowly rose beside the canopy. Bucky smashed his arm through the glass and grabbed Steve's throat. As the chopper started to list over the edge, the tail broke off and fell into the river below. Bucky kept hold of Steve as the carnage dropped from the building and slammed into the river. Bucky was knocked unconscious and let go of Steve as the chopper quickly sank. Moments later, Steve surfaced with Bucky in his arms.

~~~~~~

In a huge abandoned warehouse, the Winter Soldier woke to find his metal left arm clamped in a huge industrial vice. Steve was in another room, watching a chopper fly overhead. 

Sam was keeping an eye on Bucky. “Hey, Cap!” Steve jogged over to him and they both stared at Bucky.

“Steve,” Bucky mumbled.

“Which Bucky am I talking to?”

After a moment of thought, Bucky answered, “Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes,” a small smile appeared on his face.

“Can't read that in a museum,” he reciprocated the smile.

“Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?” Sam asked, confused.

“What did I do?” Bucky reluctantly asked.

“Enough.”

“Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the Goddamn words.”

“Who was he?” Steve asked.

“I don't know.”

“People are dead - the bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get ten minutes with you. I need you to do better than ‘I don't know.’”

Bucky thought a moment, “He wanted to know about Siberia, where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where.”

“Why would he need to know that?”

“Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier.” Taking a deep breath, he proceeded to tell Steve and Sam how this came to be.

~~~~~~

_December 16, 1991_

__

__

_Bucky rode his motorcycle alongside a car and forced it into a pole. He circled back, pulled up and climbed off the motorbike. He was filmed on Closed Circuit Television that was mounted on another nearby pole. He approached the car trunk and yanked it open, breaking the lock. Inside, he opened a metal case that contained five clear drip bags filled with bright blue fluid._

_Back at the lab, Vasily Karpov fed the blue fluid intravenously into four physically fit men and a woman. After one of them screamed how much it hurt, he was dragged into a cell and tossed onto the bed. Karpov sat in the hall, listening and making notes. When it was quiet, he checked on the patient and found him sitting upright and still on the bed._

_Karpov had the patient fight Bucky inside a barred chamber with the four others who were given the blue liquid looking on. The patient kicked with enormous power, sending Bucky flying. Everyone watched Karpov fold his arms and tell the patient he did good work._

_A medic took the patient’s pulse after the fight and he triggered, slamming the medic to the floor. A soldier clubbed the patient on the back with no effect. Karpov ducked behind Bucky and aimed his gun. He yelled at Bucky to get him out of there. As the other four Winter Soldiers effortlessly took down a squad of soldiers, Bucky covered Karpov and escorted him from the chamber._

~~~~~~

“Who were they?” Steve asked.

“Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history, and that was before the serum.”

“They all turn out like you?” Sam quipped.

“Worse.”

“The doctor, could he control them?” Steve continued.

“Enough.”

Steve recalled, “Said he wanted to see an empire fall.”

“With these guys he could do it. They speak thirty languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night. You'd never see them coming.”

Sam stepped up to Steve to have a private conversation, “This would have been a lot easier a week ago.”

“If we call Tony…,” Steve started.

“No, he won't believe us.”

“Even if he did…,” Steve continued.

“Who knows if the Accords would let him help.”

Steve concluded, “We're on our own.”

Sam was quick to answer, “Maybe not. I know a guy.”

~~~~~~

“I’m sorry, Boss. Agent Rogers is not at the compound.”

“Where is she, FRIDAY? I need her,” he sighed heavily, “I need to tell her what’s going on,” Tony flustered as he flew to Queens, New York to try and piece his plan together.

“She is in Quinjet 2, following a lead, Sir.”

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, “FRIDAY, he sighed heavily, where is she?”

“After watching Mr. Barnes’ escape from Berlin, she left to find the Doctor. I believe her trajectory is Moscow, Boss.”

“Damn it!” Tony said aloud. He was mad at you for pursuing the Doctor, he didn’t understand your logic. But, why would he? He did sort of forget about you and what you were working on. He and the rest of the team were all too busy taking sides, like children, ready to fight each other in an after school brawl. Everything was out of control and he needed you to help fix this problem. “The Americas aren't even together and they’re both getting under my skin,” he muttered.

~~~~~~

Cap walked through the underpass then jogged onto the private runway. After contacting Clint, who was pissed to be coming out of retirement, he told him to get Wanda out of her confinement at the compound. Sam had Clint bring in Scott Lang, who came in contact with Falcon months earlier, displaying his incredible shrinking abilities. Much to Sam’s embarrassment, he thought this guy could still be of help.

As the Captain headed toward a grounded chopper, an electro disabler slammed onto the vehicle and Steve looked up, seeing Iron Man and War Machine descend.

“Wow!” Tony blurted, “It's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?”

“Definitely weird,” Rhodes answered.

“Hear me out, Tony,” Steve pleaded. “That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this.”

T'Challa leaped over a truck where Steve could see him. “Captain.”

“Your highness,” Steve answered, civilly.

“Anyway,” Tony cut in, “Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in,” he directed to Steve. “That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?”

“You're after the wrong guy,” Steve retorted.

“Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday.”

“And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the Doctor find them first, Tony. I can't.”

“Steve,” Natasha spoke, “you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?”

“All right,” Tony quipped, “I've run out of patience.”

Steve eyed his former team, noticing Tony’s newest protege, Peter Parker. To Steve, he was just some kid in a full body suit with a spider emblem on the front. Not really understanding who he was, he simply commented, “You've been busy.”

“And you've been a complete idiot - dragging in Clint, ‘rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep…” Tony sighed, “I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.”

Steve’s brows furrowed, “You did that when you signed.”

Tony lost his temper. “Alright, We're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us, NOW, because it's us!” Tony softened a little but Steve looked away. “Come on,” Tony begged.

At that moment, Sam radioed Steve, “We found it. Their Quinjet's in hanger five, North runway.”

“Oh, great,” Stark quipped. “Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you want to take Cap?”

Rhodes spoke out, “Got two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes.”

“Barnes is mine!” T’Challa yelled. “Move, Captain. I won't ask a second time.”

~~~~~~

A lot can happen in a matter of a few hours and Tony was running out of time. He needed to find Steve desperately. He was in his helicopter, flying over the stormy sea on his way to the Raft Prison when FRIDAY interrupted his train of thought. He activated holographic images from his wrist device. 

“What am I looking at, FRIDAY?”

“Boss, I have an urgent call and emergency file sent from Agent Rogers,” she stated. “It’s a priority upload from Berlin police.”

“Put her through.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Tony?”

“Rogers, where the Hell are you?”

“About five miles out from a mountain bunker in the middle of Nowhere, Siberia.”

“Are you shitting me? What the fuck are you doing there by yourself? I needed you and you left!” Tony ranted and yelled.

“Screw you, Tony! I’ve been working, or did you forget that I’m part of this team, too?” you yelled angrily. “I don’t see that you were trying to get a hold of me! FRIDAY always had a channel open. Now you’re bitching that I wasn’t around? I’ve been doing my God damn job. What the Hell have you been doing?”

There was a deafening silence that could have sliced through a boulder. Each of you had anger that was bubbling to the brim, both of you wanting to know why the other never communicated. You had no idea the impact of what you were about to learn.

“F/n,” Tony breathed quietly, regretfully, “uggghhhr, shit!” he stammered. “Steve and Sam helped Barnes escape and now they’re gone. Steve’s gone.”

You were silent and Tony knew he just threw a dagger into your heart. “I’m sorry but,” he took a large sigh before continuing, “listen, Steve was trying to convince me that Barnes had been framed and I didn’t believe him. The team,” he sighed again, “the team was divided F/n and we tried to stop him.”

“Tony, what did you do?” you yelled, angrily.

“Ross gave me thirty-six hours to bring him in and that was over twenty-four hours ago. I tried to reach you, F/n,” he sounded desperate. “I...I fought him. We fought each other,” his voice cracked. “I tried to save the team but we just,” he took a moment to compose himself, “we levelled an airport and took some severe hits. Rhodes is probably going to be paralyzed and Clint, Sam, Wanda and some Scott guy are in prison.”

“Oh my God,” you covered your mouth, clenching back tears. You couldn’t believe what you heard. “Tony, why?”

“He’s dangerous, F/n!” Tony demanded. “Now he’s got Barnes with him and that makes them both a threat.”

“TONY!” you screamed, “Why didn’t fucking listen to him? He was right. I saw everything. Barnes didn’t do it,” your chest was heaving with anger. “Put your damn ego aside for one moment, would you?”

“What are you getting at, F/n?”

“Look at what I sent you,” you commanded.

Tony flipped the images to a tablet. “Okay, go ahead,” he said softly.

“The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Bucky was captured. The UN dispatched Dr. Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour of the arrest. He was met by this man.” On your queue, FRIDAY brought forward a single photo into Tony’s view.

“Facial recognition?”

“The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo of Sokovian Intelligence.” Tony projected the image in front of him. “Zemo ran Echo Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad.”

“So, what happened to the real Broussard?” Tony swiped his hand down his face in disbelief.

“He was found dead in a Berlin hotel room where police also found a wig and facial prosthesis approximating the appearance of James Buchanan Barnes.”

“Son of a bitch. FRIDAY, get this to Ross.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“F/n,” Tony paused, “I’m sorry.”

“I know, Tony. I know,” you said sadly.

“Be careful,” he hesitated. “Wish you weren’t alone.”

“Find him for me, okay?”

“I will.”

~~~~~~

“This is the Raft Prison Control. You're clear for landing, Mr. Stark.”

The sea swelled and surged as the Raft Prison rose up from beneath. A huge, fortified, circular structure with small lights around the sides opened its two semi-circular doors in the flat circular top. Controlling his chopper with a tablet, he landed on the helipad and the doors closed above it. Tony hopped out and walked up to Secretary Ross.

“So, you got the files? Let's reroute the satellites, start facial scanning for this Zemo guy,” Tony started directing.

“You seriously think I'm gonna listen to you after that fiasco in Leipzig? You're lucky you're not in one of these cells,” Ross glared at Tony sternly then looked through a thick, steel security door. Soldiers stood guard in an operations room. Tony looked at a surveillance screen that showed Wanda, sitting hunched in a cramped prison cell.

Another security door opened and Tony walked into a chamber surrounded by large, barred windows. Beyond the windows were a number of prison cells. Tony took in his surroundings as he slowly approached.

Clint started clapping, “The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether your like it or not.”

“Give me a break, Barton. I had no idea they'll put you here. Come on.”

Clint spat on the ground, “Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony.”

“Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey. You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for…”

Clint interrupted, “Criminals?” He stood up. “Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't used to mean me, or Sam, or Wanda, but here we are.”

“Because you broke the law,” Tony retorted.

“Yeah,” Barton huffed.

“I didn't make you.”

“La, la, la, la, la…,” Clint sang.

“You read it, you broke it.”

“La, la, la, la la…”

“Alright, you're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?” he walked away.

“You gotta watch your back with this guy,” Clint yelled. “There's a chance he's gonna break it.”

Scott spoke up as Tony walked past, “Hank Pym always said, you never can trust a Stark.”

Tony scrunched his face, “Who are you?”

“Come on, man.”

“How's Rhodes?” Sam asked Tony.

“They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow, so…fingers crossed.” Sam shook his head, still in disbelief of what happened.

“What do you need? They feed you yet?” Tony tried to curb the conversation.

Sam raised his eyebrows, “You're the good cop now?”

“I'm just a guy who needs to know where Steve went.”

“Well, you better go get a bad cop, because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me.”

Tony hit some buttons on his watch, “Oh, I just knocked the 'A' out of their 'AV'. We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment.”

Secretary Ross had been in the operations room, watching the screens and listening to the conversation. He saw Sam and Tony’s lips move with no sound and turned to the guard, “What did you do? Get it back up!”

Projected above Tony’s watch, he directed Sam’s attention, “Just look because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes.” Sam saw the holographic image of Doctor Broussard. “Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam. I was wrong.”

“That's a first.”

“Cap is definitely off the reservation but he's about to need all the help he can get. We don't know each other very well. You don't have to…”

“Hey, it's alright.” Tony leaned closer to the window. Sam sighed and looked a little uneasy. “Look, I'll tell you, but you have to go alone and as a friend.”

“Easy.”

~~~~~~

Tony was walking to his chopper when Secretary Ross caught his attention. “Stark? Did he give you anything on Rogers?”

“Nope. Told me to go to Hell. I'm going back to the compound instead, but you can call me anytime. I'll put you on hold, I like to watch the line blink.” Ross stared at Tony who smiled as he loaded himself in the chopper, slid the door shut and started it up. He left the Raft, his brain clearly battling with his new found information. 

“FRIDAY, find F/n’s coordinates.”

“Here you go, Boss.”

“Hmm, and Cap’s?”

“Captain Rogers’ Quinjet is on a trajectory to what looks like the same location as Agent Rogers’.”

“Yup,” he smirked, “even when they’re separated, they’re on the same wavelength. Those two are too good to be apart.” With that statement, he decided to do the right thing. He pressed a button on his console and while holding it down, his suit enveloped his body. A hatch opened under the chopper and Iron Man flew out on course to your location.

Little did he know that T’Challa was following close behind in his own jet.

~~~~~~

Steve flew the Quinjet toward the mountains. Bucky sat behind him and hesitated to speak. “What's gonna happen to your friends?”

Staring ahead, he sighed, “Whatever it is, I'll deal with it.”

“I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve.”

Steve glanced at Bucky, “What you did all those years, It wasn't you. You didn't have a choice.”

“I know, he breathed, but I did it.”

They were silent for a bit before Steve tried to reminisce, “You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?”

“Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?”

“You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead.”

“What was her name again?”

“Dolores. You called her Dot.”

“She's gotta be a hundred years old right now.”

“So are we, pal.” Bucky smiled before Steve spoke again, “Listen Buck, he sighed, so, there’s a girl…....”

Bucky’s eyes widened and he clamped his hands on Steve’s shoulders as he interrupted, “You found someone!” he smiled.

Steve chuckled, “Yeah, about that…..I married someone.”

“Holy Shit!” Bucky exclaimed. Steve smiled at his friend’s exuberance. “Who? When?”

Steve chuckled, “Her name is F/n and she was working for S.H.I.E.L.D. when I came out of the ice.” Bucky nodded as he listened. “In the beginning, she was working with me to help me acclimatize to my new surroundings. Then we started on missions together. She gave me space when I needed it and a shoulder when I needed it. She brought me into the here and now and I shared my past with her. I fell for her and I knew she was the one I wanted to be with.

“Wow, Steve, she sounds amazing.”

“She really is,” he said sadly.

Bucky noticed the hesitation in his voice, the sorrow that seemed to be there.

“Steve? What happened? Where is she?” he asked carefully.

Steve drew a deep breath, “She helped me and Sam try to find you.” He tried to sound positive but he was failing, miserably. “She worked for months, uncovering anything that had a remote HYDRA signature and until now, all leads had gone cold. A few months ago,” he sighed, “we were on a mission in Sokovia and I…..we all thought….we uh, we didn’t think she made it. Tony’s friend, Rhodes had saved her but she was badly injured and we ended up losing,” he sighed, trying to figure out his words, “we found out in the hospital that she had been expecting. We lost our baby.”

“Oh Steve, I’m so sorry.”

“She’s a fighter, though. Back to work in only a couple of months. Stronger. Ready. But, I blew it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I got scared. When all this started, I panicked. I told her I didn’t want her involved and she wasn’t part of the team.”

“Woah!”

“I really messed up. I ruined our relationship, our partnership. All I wanted to do was keep her safe.“

Steve brought the Quinjet into landing on the remote icy mountain top. Zemo had travelled to the mountain top in a caterpillar truck that was highly visible when the jet landed. It wasn’t until their approach that his screen started to flash a small blip to the west. 

Bucky heard the alert. He leaned over Steve’s shoulder to look at the screen. “What is it?”

“Identify,” Steve commanded the computer and its response sent the soldiers into high alert. “It’s another Quinjet,” he answered. As they looked at each other, confused, he continued, “Someone else is here.” He checked the flight logs of the second Quinjet. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“What?” Bucky questioned.

“It says F/n was the pilot.”

“Your wife?”

Steve nodded, visibly agitated. “I can’t read heat signatures yet but neither of them could have been here for more than a few hours.”

“Long enough to wake the soldiers up,” Bucky added as he pulled out rack of guns labeled 'Romanoff'. He took a machine gun, stood at the back of the jet and waited for the exit ramp to descend. Steve came and stood beside him.

They started into the cast bunker and travelled down into the depths inside a caged elevator. It stopped in the bowels of the bunker and the doors slid open. Steve nodded to Bucky and heaved up the cage door. Bucky readied his gun and they walked along a corridor, keeping close to the wall. Bucky looked into an alcove full of junk then he and Steve moved up the stairs. At the sound of a loud thud, they spun around, aiming down the corridor.

“You ready?” Steve asked.

“Yeah.”

The double doors parted, forced open by Iron Man. Steve stared in surprise as Tony walked toward them and retracted the suit's helmet.

“You seem a little defensive,” Tony blurted.

Bucky kept his gun up while Steve walked to meet Tony, his shield still covering his body. “It's been a long day.”

“At ease, Soldier,” Tony directed at Barnes. “I'm not currently after you.”

“Then why are you here?” Steve asked.

“Could be your story's not so crazy....maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way, otherwise, I gotta arrest myself.”

“Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork,” he lowered his shield. “It's good to see you, Tony.”

“You too, Cap.” Tony looked at Barnes again, “Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop…” Steve turned and signalled to Bucky to lower his weapon and he did.

“The other Quinjet logged F/n as the pilot. Is she with you?”

“No, she came here on her own.”

“What? Tony, what the Hell?” Steve’s blood began to boil.

“Hey, hey, hey, who do you think told me you were right all along?” Steve’s face softened. “Seems she was working while we were all trying to beat the shit out of each other. She was monitoring us in Berlin and saw the whole thing unfold.”

“Why didn’t she tell us?” Steve asked.

“You know, she and I already had this conversation and she’s pretty pissed at all of us. We excluded her.” Steve looked down, shamefully. “I didn’t contact her either and like I said, she followed the only lead there was while we all followed each other in circles.”

“I like her already,” Bucky smirked. “She has to be in here somewhere.”

The three of them cautiously walk along the corridor. With his helmet reengaged, Tony monitored the building. “I got heat signatures.”

“How many?” Steve asked.

“Uh, two.” He led Steve and Bucky toward an enormous chamber with the soldier capsules standing inside. As they entered the vast chamber, the lights came on. Hazy, yellow mist descended within the capsules. Each one contained an enhanced soldier from Karpov’s 1991 experiment. The men looked around, bewildered.

“If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep,” Zemo projected through a speaker. All the enhanced soldiers had been shot in the head. Bucky walked past the capsules and stared at all the corpses as Zemo spoke to him, “Did you really think I wanted more of you?”

Bucky came to the last pod and noticed the soldier was different. Not dead. “What the hell?” he turned to Steve.

“All but that one,” Zemo added. “I'm grateful to her, though. She brought you here.”

Steve and Tony walked toward the capsule that Bucky was questioning. Their hearts fell when they recognized your face.

“F/n,” Tony whispered. 

Bucky was shocked.

“Let her go! Steve yelled into the vast room. “I swear, if you hurt her….”

“Oh, quite the contrary, Captain. Your wife, she is strong and fights extremely hard. I have a soft spot for her and, in fact, I never wished to harm her. I couldn’t win against her. You would be proud. She actually had me pinned and all this would have been over, but I cheated.” A control room light came on and the men saw Zemo sitting behind the glass. “I reached for this,” he held up a syringe, “and managed to sedate her but not before she landed some devastating blows. I probably will not heal well,” he squirmed as he touched the very bruised and bloodied right side of his face.

Steve hurled his shield but it ricochet and flew back. “Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets.”

“I'm betting I could beat that,” Tony quipped.

“Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came.”

Bucky tried prying the capsule apart with his metal arm to retrieve you. From his control board, Zemo released the lock and the unit hissed. After he lifted the lid, he unstrapped you and pulled you out, sitting with you on the floor.

“You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?” Steve asked. Just as he spoke, the Black Panther watched from the shadows. T’Challa was about to learn the truth.

“I thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized, there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw.”

Steve looked over at Barnes who had brought you out of your slumber. You nodded when Bucky asked if you were okay to move. You wrapped your arms around his neck as he put his arm around your waist, pulling you both up to stand.

“Did you feel like you lost her, Captain? Again? Just like Sokovia?”

“You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?”

“Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to Hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise.”

Steve studied Zemo and spoke cautiously. “You lost someone.”

Zemo clicked his tongue. “I lost everyone, and so will you.”


End file.
